Key Chip & Semiconductor Stocks Hit 52-Week Lows (MRVL, MU, SNDK, STM)

It was a bit surprising today to see some of the names that were on the 52-week low list that were chip stocks.  So far AMD has managed to escape this list today, although it’s only about 1% above the $7.54 52-week low.  It looks like that PC surge isn’t helping more than a few.  Here are some of the key names:

• SanDisk Corp. (NASDAQ:SNDK) is down almost 2.5% at $34.25, under the 52-week trading band of $34.43 to $59.75. This actually marks the bottom of a two-year trading range and now shares would have to fall back to $20-ish to reach the 2004 lows before this range was in place.  Maybe the company should have stuck with being the Flash memory leader rather than  having tried to compete against iPod sales with its own MP3 flash player.
• Micron Technology (NYSE: MU) at $7.35 after today’s 2% drop is just under the new low 52-week lows of $7.37 after it’s earnings prove it can’t turnaround.  THIS ONE NEEDS A BREAK-UP.
• Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (NASDAQ: MRVL) was a bit surprising to see, even if it has been losing its old steam.  This looks like it broke the lows of 2005 and this could fall to $10.00 before traders start pointing to any linear support on its chart.  Ouch.
• STMicroelectronics NV (NYSE: STM) was a surprise to see on the list, but this is just a re-touch of the $14.34 lows.

Other key chip stocks and chip related names that are within about 3% of 52-week lows: AMAT, CHRT, IMOS, AMD…

Jon C. Ogg
December 27, 2007